Last week some time, my Moto X1 push-notified me that a system update was available – for ‘security and performance improvements’, as I recall. I haven’t given every feature of my phone a scouring since, but I’ve notice two adverse changes since installing:

The Flashlight feature was removed from the swipe-down icons (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, airplane mode, etc.). I used this feature all the time and, go figure, discovered it was missing in an area that was pitch-black. The ‘free apps’ out there to mimic this one-time OS feature are bloated with invasive permissions, leaving no suitable replacement.

I shook my phone to activate the camera feature and capture a special moment with my family. The phone proceeded to activate the FRONT-FACING camera and I was staring at a picture of my own face while trying to find the swap-cameras button – which had been REMOVED. The moment passed and was lost. Looking in the Motorola Camera app itself, it looks like the rear-facing camera is no longer used at all.

I seriously want to find a way to remove this update from my phone. I haven’t noticed any new security features or improvements in battery life or any other phone performance. Below is what I find in the About Phone screen:

To the best of my knowledge, there is no way to reverse the security update from Motorola. To address the issues you’ve referenced, I suggest starting by clearing both the app and Android system caches. Here’s how: Clearing the Cache. Hopefully, that gets things sorted for you.

Both of the features you listed are still on my X1 after the update. So your phone has issues that my doesn’t .

If clearing the cache doesn’t help, then you will probably want to put the phone in safe mode and test to see if there is an app conflict.Safe Mode

If that doesn’t help then you are left trying a factory reset of the phone. Factory Reset

Unfortunately, a few phones seem to have issues after updating the operating system. Some as bad as being inoperable, aka bricked phone. Following the update instructions in the Republic documentation will help to minimize this from happening, but some phones may have a hidden defect or app conflict that these updates seem to find.

It looks like your camera might have failed. I experienced the same symptoms with my camera when it died on my Moto X (1st gen.) last year. The only way to know is to perform a factory reset. If the symptoms return to the camera after the rest, then the camera has failed. I had my camera repaired at CPR because it was cheaper than Motorola. They also warranty their work.

Yes, I should have tried clearing the system cache first – that seemed to clear things up. The outer camera is an odd thing to have fail after a security update, but I’ll take it… I just hope that @lenoirt isn’t correct and the entire camera is failing. I suddenly thought that the flashlight not being there made total sense if the camera wasn’t working.

I have a G1 for my wife. Simple maintenance keeps it running smoothly and can keep yours smooth too. The phone is a rock solid unit if treated well. Just one more note to you. The Facebook apps are making havoc with the phones. A suggestion is to delete the apps and run Facebook through Chrome & saving it in the bookmarks/favorites. I hope your phone runs as long as mine will, good luck.